Facebook facilitates sex abuse, says Peter Dutton
Peter Dutton has unloaded on Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg, saying the company was facilitating child sexual abuse at ‘incomprehensible’ levels.
Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton has unloaded on Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg, saying the company was facilitating child sexual abuse at “incomprehensible” levels and its move towards end-to-end encryption would stop children from being rescued.
Mr Dutton hit out at the “unconscionable” conduct of Facebook and other tech giants he said profited from child sex abuse and were making it harder for police to protect children.
“We know particularly in Facebook’s case that they are taking a deliberate decision with end-to-end encryption to starve referrals of matters that otherwise in previous years would have been made to law-enforcement agencies and investigators,” he said.
“Children have been saved because of those referrals in the past and they won’t be saved in the future because of the actions of Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook and others.
“Even at the recent AGM at Facebook, where there was a very concerted effort by shareholders to try and change the course of that policy decision … Mr Zuckerberg took a decision not to accept what I thought was a moral imperative for him to do so.”
Mr Dutton was speaking on Friday at the official opening of the Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation facility in Brisbane, where the parents of murdered schoolboy Daniel Morcombe also lashed tech companies’ actions as a “disgrace”.
Mr Dutton said the Five Eyes intelligence network of Australia, the US, Britain, Canada and New Zealand had been working together to deal with end-to-end encryption.
His fiercest comments were directed at Facebook and Mr Zuckerberg for expanding encryption across Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp. “In the Facebook workplace, under no circumstance would they allow a child or a woman to be sexually assaulted on the floor of their business,” he said.
“And yet their platform facilitates the sexual assault of children at a scale that most Australians would find incomprehensible.
“The onus is upon them to step up and to be the corporate citizens that they believe they should be. This is a fight that is worth fighting, and I promise you that we rededicate ourselves to do that.”
Bruce and Denise Morcombe, whose son Daniel was abducted and murdered by a twice-convicted pedophile in 2003, attended the launch and backed the minister’s comments slamming Facebook.
“You’ve got to ask what is the motivation behind it and if it’s money,” Mr Morcombe said.
“Let’s face it, child exploitation is a business. A hideous business, but it’s a global business. A lot of people unfortunately are making a lot of money at the expense of children that are being abused.
“The minister’s comments were very forthright. We feel the same way.
“Child exploitation is the most hideous crime in the world, and anything tech companies do to inhibit police law enforcement and the detection of children that are caught up is a disgrace.”
Mr Dutton had earlier in his speech appeared to become emotional when discussing the work of child-abuse investigators.
US Attorney-General William Barr and British Home Secretary Priti Patel recorded speeches for the opening of the Australian Federal Police-led ACCCE.
More Coverage
Third senior exit at CFMEU administration
The exit came as confidential documents show the union’s national office was in deficit and the SA branch insolvent.
Flood warnings issued as Cyclone Zelia downgraded
Tropical cyclone Zelia has been downgraded but heavy rainfall continues to lash parts of northwest WA, where severe weather and emergency warnings remain in place.